GDC 10: Ghostwire: Link to the Paranormal Sneak Peek

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There's something strange in your neighborhood.

By Greg Miller

A few weeks ago, I attended Nintendo's media summit and saw bunch of games – Mario, Metroid, WarioWare – but the one title I couldn't stop talking about was Ghostwire: Link to the Paranormal, an augmented reality game that shows the real world on your DS via the camera and drops ghosts into it. The game wasn't there, but it did have this awesome B movie-like trailer where a girl drew a pentagram, saw a ghost on her DSi and ran from the room.

It was great, but that's all that was shown. There's this girl, she's tapping on the screen, and then she's running. What's going on with this thing? As an aspiring Ghostbuster, I demand more.

Luckily, GDC delivered more today at a panel all about "creating augmented reality experiences on the DSi." There was a lot of tech chatter about tracking frames to indicate movement, but some details on just what you'll be doing when you start drawing your own pentagrams slipped out.

For starters, you're not just seeing ghosts and running for the hills. Your challenge is to find the ghosts wherever you are, capture them, and then help them. Each spirit is going to have a story and problem that you need to solve. You'll need to talk to the ghost you're trying to help, find clues, interview the other spirits you know, and so on. This is going to breakdown as adventure-like game where you're solving puzzles and completing mini-games.

Still, the heart of the game is finding and bagging these spirits. A Different Game, Ghostwire's developer, showed some footage from the latest build of the game, and it appears there's a radar on the bottom screen along with a couple of other tools that help you hone in on any presences in your general area. I didn't get to see them in action, but there are going to be light and sound meters at your disposal. Plus, the game is going to use WiFi to see if you've been moving around.

The ghosts themselves weren't terrifying during the presentation – mostly they were translucent white beings, but there's no telling how hair-raising they'll be in the final product. Apparently, finding and capturing the ghouls will be a breeze in the beginning, but the ghosts are going to get faster and move a lot more as you get deeper into the experience five- to six-hour experience. Apparently, you could finish the game in one room, but the game will "reward" you for moving around and turning your DSi on at midnight.

I'll admit that the initial reason I was so jazzed about Ghostwire: Link to the Paranormal was that awesomely ludicrous trailer, but after hearing a bit more about the collection aspect, the stories, and the rewards for experimenting, I'm now legitimately looking forward to seeing what this title brings to the table when it's released this Halloween. Until then, look for more about ghosts and DSi games here on IGN.